Fabric feeding device



Jan. 29, 1946. M. J. LENARTQwlcz E'r AL.V 2,393,786

FABRIC FEEDING' DEVICE l Filed Oct. 18, 1943 4 Sheds-#Sheet l A TTORNEYS.

Jan. 29V, 194.6. l M. J. LENARTowlcz 14g-r AL 2,393,786 K FABRIC FEEDINGDEVIGE- Filed oct. 18, 1945 4 sheets-sheet 2 H; 4f y ./v/

' Jan. 29, 1946. M. J. LENARTwlcz ET AL. 2,393,785

FABRIC FEEDING DEVICE Filed ot 18, 1943 l A TTORNL Yue.'

lJalll- 29,1945 M. .J` LENARTowlcz ET Al; l 2,393,786

FABRIC FEEDING 4DEVICE Filed Oct. 18, 1943 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 ArroRNEYs.

v as burlap.

Patented Jan. 29, 1946 FABRIC FEEDING nEvIoE- i '.Aplication octobirfis,1943, serial No. 506,647 realms. (o1. 11a-z) Y The present inventionrelates to a fabrice feeding device for feeding fabric to sewingmachines,Y

particularlyV of the multiple head type adapted,

for example, for sewing Ja plurality or series of pockets in relativelycoarse fabric materiaL-such One of the objects of thefinvention is toprovide an improved machine capable of forming-a plurality of pocketsinA folded material or separate pieces or strips of materialeconomically and more rapidly than has heretofore been possible Anotherobject of the invention is to provide a machine wherein folded fabricmaterial-or a pair of superimposed layers or pieces of fabric materialmay be intermittently fed flatwise in a substantially straight line paththrough the-ma'- chine,V in which the machine is provided with one ormore sewing heads which move Vtransverselywith relation to the travel ofthe fabric material t sew spaced pockets therein. f l

vAnother object of the present invention is to provide a machineof theforegoing character havingintermittently movable or operable mechanismcapable of moving one or more sewing heads transversely with respect tothe fabric material, together with means for indexingrthe materialforwardlyv when the sewing/head orheads approach each extreme positionof their transverse travel. Y I f I v Y Another object of the presentinvention Vis to provide an improved machine having sewing headsreciprocable back and forth in unison longitudinally of themachinetointermittently sew pockets in fabric material passingtransverselythrough the machine in either direction and in aY substantially straightpath. Y

A further object of the invention lis to provide an improved machine ofthe foregoing character and/or an improved method'or process capable offorming or producing a series or .plurality of successive pockets of thesame size in folded fabric material or in a pair of superimposed piecesor layers of fabric material, and which is capable of forming singlepockets of a different size at predetermined times and after vapredetermined number of said same size pockets have been produced. V

Another 'object of the invention is to provide an improved machine ofthe foregoing character capable of successively forming a seriesofpockets of the same size in a piece of folded material or in a pair ofsuperimposed separate pieces or strips of material and at predeterminedintervals forming in said Series, a pocket of a different size.

' A further object of the present invention is t'o provide an improvedmachine of the foregoing character capable of being operated atV agiven.

speed to successively form a series orplurality of pockets of the samesize in a piece offoldedfabric material or in a pair of superimposedseparate pieces'or strips of fabric material, vand :capableof beingoperated at a reduced rate of speed at pre-Y determined times for thepurposeof producing.

at predetermined intervals, in said series of pocketslfa pocket of adifferent size. i

The foregoing and'- other objects and advan-` tages -of the invention"will appearfrom the'fol' lowing description' and appended claims whenconsidered `in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a partof this'specication.

wherein like reference characters designatecorresponding parts in theseveral views.l'

In said drawings:

Figs. 1, 2 and 3 are end'perspective views takenrespectively from .theright and left sides and from the front and the end of the fabricfeeding'l device embodying'the present vinvention showing the drivingand control/mechanisms. y Fig. lisa top plan vof the4 areaindicatedbythe arrow 4 of Fig.r1.

Fig. 5 is 'an elevation taken. substantially on the" line 5-5of Fig. 4looking in the directionpf ,ther

arrows. ,v y

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary plan ofthe area 6 6 of Fig. 1 lookingvin the directionof the' arrows.` v v i Fig, -7 is a Vfragmentary Viewpartially insection' taken substantially on the line. 'i-l Vof Figgllooking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 8 is -an elevation taken substantially -on the .line 8-4-8 of Fig.7 lookngin the direction of the arrows. i Y

Fig. 9 is a Aperspective View illustrating yone ty'pe of jnished articleproduced on themachine of* the present invention.v l Before explainingVin detail the present invention it is `to be understood that the`invention is not limited inhits' application'to the details of con?A Thepresent invention is related to the invention disclosed in HathawayPatent No. 2,318;686, issued May 1.1, 1943, but differs therefrom in thefeeding and control'mechanismsf which are UNITED, STATES PrfrlaNT,Aornerff being understood that the complete machine and the power drivetherefor may have a general ap-` perance similar) to thatishown in Fig.1 of the Hathaway Patent No. 2,318,686.

While there are various types of lsewing head w1150, to which is secureda contour cam 5i which which may be employed in connection witlfithefabric feeding device of the Vpri-:sent invention,

the novel sewing headv of ouro-pending-,appl-f cation Serial No.506,648, filed Octobe'rj 18;, 194.3

is particularly yadapted for'use on V 1*'na'..clii.r1es ,ofi

the present type. Y

A machine embodying the presenti invention.,v is A.

mounted on a main frame l0 and comprises several coordinated andsynchronized elements toV 'perform the various functionsdesired. *Onesuch element. provides; for the-longitudinal movement t of the` sewinghead, anotherzprovides for the.

may be utilized for movement longitudinallyof the machine.-

A pluralityof strips to be served are-contained on a feed reel (notshown which is mounted forrotation on'the,4 feed reelv shaft 24. A,takeup reel,y (notl shown):V for rollingup the .fabric strips after theyhavebeen sewed is mounted on and driven by the'power driven take-upvreel shaft 25. -v

, The fabric tov be sewed isdrawn.` transversely of theV sewing table2'6 .byfeed-rolls (not shown) which grip-the fabricand feed it`- fromthe feed reel throughfthe sewing, head"2ll. Each of the y sewing heads20 which is utilized i's'providedjwith a separate strip of, fabric uponwhich the sewing operation is tolbeperformed. 1

Thel reels, feed rolls'and" sewing Vheads and' their operation areshown. in lsaid Hathaway Patent No. 2,318,686Y towhich reference ishereby made for the details ofj constructionl and operation ofsaidreels.

The feed rolls `are power driven ,from a lfeed roll shaft 2T which isdrivenintermittently by the feed roll driving, mechanism which comprisesthe gear train.28,j 2'9, 30. and 3|, The gear `3l is secured to aratchet wheel 32v Fig. 6l whichl is adjustably driven by a plurality ofspring pressed pawl's 33, carried by the oscillating feed ratchet arm 34mounted onfthe bracket 35'. On theA swingingend of the oscillating feedratchet' army 34 ismounted an adjustable'bracket 3S (Fig. 3)"which ismovable to adjusted positions longitudinally of thesaid arm by theadjusting screw The adjustable bracket illiis pivotally connected withone-end of a crank arm` 38, the other end of which is pivotally`Vconnected with a slide mem-1 ber 33. slidably mounted ona.pivoted,lever;,40,and isv power driven reciprocally thereon by a,crank 412, which. is` pivotally connected with `at crank arm V42; whichis. secured 'to a` shaft 43, on which;

is mounted a free sprocket 44. This sprocket 44 is driven by a drivechain 45 from a drive sprocketY 46 which is secured to a power drivenshaft 4l. The sprocket 44 is selectively connected with and disconnectedfrom the shaft 43 to effect the ro.

tation thereof :by the clutching and declutching mechanismwhich will behereinafter more fully described. 2 f I Q j The sprocket 431s securedto' the shaft 41 and drives a drive chainr49V which drives the sprocketmovesa cam follower 52 on the pivoted lever 40. A tension spring 53 issecured to the free end of' the pivoted-lever 40 and maintains the camfollower 50 'in operative contact with nthe .contour of theicam 5l.rides rover the high points of the cam 5l, the pivoted: lever` 40TVispressed downwardly toward As the cam follower the base.. ofY themachine while when the cam follower drops into the low point of the cam5I, the action of the spring-53 draws thepivoted lever 40 in anupwardsdirection. The-,movement of the pivoted lever 4'0Qthus .variesthe Vamount of travel. of. the-crank arm '38, and accordingly varies theamount of movement of the Varm 3d K of the feed ratchet.

. To insure gripping of. the fabric in thefeedrolls,

afabric tensioning` and grippingroll; (not shown) is'provided, on theshaftlh andis, moved bodily with the shaftilv by the shaft adjustingmember 6l uponacliustinentof the shaft 6B relative to the f Y k- Infeedingthe fabric the shaft 2-1 is, rotated a predeterminedamount by theoscillating movement of the; feed; ratchet arm34. The amount ofmovement: of the shaft.` 2&7 is controlledfby the position of the slidemember Sillon the pivoted leven 1451:,- whichv turn controlstheeffective movement: of:A thecrankfarm.l 38..: The positiony of the slidemember {3'fonf-V the ,lever 43 isv-ariedat fixed times by 'movement-of:thepcrank arm 42 Which-,istransmittedthrough'thelever 4a. A furtheradjustment is providedby the adjusting screw Y 3L which'causes the,movement of the bracket 36 ori-the arm. ,ofv the.A oscillatingfeedmember 34, and thus variesz'the extent ofthe; oscillations of themember, 34. The high point ofi thev path cam 5l, in. contact with the.:cam follower 572, causes the pivoted lever 4U to be moved downwardlyagainst f pivotedlever l40A to'vary the;V effective travel of the crank.armr 33, and thus, `to' varythe amount of movement Yoffthefeed rollattached to the shaft V2l by reducing the amount offrotationof theshaft. This provides aI narrower spacing, .Thus a Series of pockets*`154 as shown in 1'ig.9A maybe `provided inalfolded fabric, stri-p inwhich the pockets are of a uniform size for a predeterminednumber, whichis controlled by the control mechanismv to-be hereinaftery morefullydescribed. The uniformly sized seriesv of pockets are. separated fromthel next series'of such pockets of the same predetermined size a.singlenarrower'pocket L52'. Thus when theV various series, of uniformlysized,,pocketsY [5t-are separated from each other by cuttingtheStripsransversely through thel A in a wider.. pocket.

Betweenzeach-feeding movement of the fabric strip, the sewing heads, 20are moved transversely of the strip and longitudinally of the machine bythemechanism which comprises the bar,54, one end of which is'pivotallymountedto a portion ofthe frameyl, and the other end of which ispivotally mounted to thebase 2| of the sewing head. v. Thebar 54 isprovided with a plurality of spaced apertures 55, in one of which aconnecting link 58 is pivotally connected as by the bolt 59. The otherend of the link 58 is connected to a reciprocating slide member 62. Theeffective movement ofthe bar 5 4 and consequently theextentvof'pennitted movement, of the sewing head is controlled by thepoint of connection of the connecting link 58 Vwith the bar 54. Thus bychanging the position of the bolt 59 and connect'ing the ends of theconnecting link 58 with one of the ,other of the spaced apertures 55,the extent of movement ofthe bar 54 is controlled.

The reciprocating slide member 62 is reciprocated by a slide operatingcam 63 which acts on cam rollers 64 and 66 which areA carried on theslide 62. The c am 63 is power driven from the power shaft 41 through agear train consisting of the bevelgears 61, a pinion 68 driven by one ofsaid bevel gears and meshed with the largek gear 69 whichdrives thereducing gear 10. A cam drive pinion gear 1I meshes with the reducinggear and is mounted on the shaft 12 on which the cam 63 is mounted.Rotation of the shaft 12 causes rotation of the cam 63. Thus as the cam63 is rotated with the shaft 12, it moves the slide 62 by contact withthe cam rollers 64 and 66. The contour of the caml63 provides a uniformreciprocating movement of the slide 62 and provides for a dwell at thelimit of the motion of the slide 62 in either direction. This motion istransmitted through the link 58 to the bar 54 and from thence to thebase 2| of the sewing head. The sewing head carried by the base 2| moveson the guide bars 22 and 23 to the extent that such movement ispermitted bythe swinging of the pivoted bar 54.

Power for driving the sewing head 20 `is sup- 84, and a worm and piniongearing indicated byY the numeral 85 but not shown in detail, containedin the gear case 86. Power is supplied through the worm and piniongearing by a shaft 81 which is driven by the bevel gears 61 from themain power shaft '41. A drive gear 90 is keyed tothe shaft 18 and isslidable longitudinally thereof. The drive from the gear 90 to thesewing head is mounted on the base 2| and moves with the base 2 I.

'The gearing for driving the sewing heads is driven through a drivechain 9| which drives the sewing head operating gear 92 which is on oneend of the shaft I I3, and a gear I |6a which is also carried on saidshaft. Since any desired type of sewing head may be employed, it is tobe underthe width of thepockets y|52v is narrower ithan that yoi? thepockets' I5I, the ysewing machines preferablyiarei driven slower duringtheV shorter' pocket feeding step. Thisis accomplished by providing atwo speed drive `for the'sewing: machine head 20 as shown'in Figs. 1 and4. As here shown, this'drive comprises a, throwout clutch member|00`which is controlled through a clutch throwout lever |0I, whoseoperation is controlled by a solenoid |02, which iselectricallyconnected with a slide limit switch |03 and withasnap lock cswitch I 04. on the material feeding control. The snap lock's'witch |04is provided with an operating arm I04a. The slide limit switch |03 isoperated by a switchfoperating bracket' |05, which iscarried on theslide`62, and contacts the arm of the switch |03 to close an electriccircuit through the switch |04 tothe clutch operating solenoid |02. Thisdeclutches the gear drive andA changes the speed of the drive of thelsewing head at predetermined intervals at the end of operation.' Uponeach revolution of the fly-wheel4 I 01, the pin |06 breaks thefcircuitthrough'the switch |04 and this de-energizes'the solenoid |02v and theclutch lever IOI is moved to cause engagement of the throwout clutch |00and establish the slower speed drive of the sewingheadg- The throwoutand clutch |00 may-be of any desired type. However, we havey found lthatthe type shown in detail in Figs. 4 and 5 is very suitable stood thatthe gear 92 may be variedas required ofthe material. This occurs` ateach end of the transverse `movement of the sewing heads. Since for thispurpose. As here shown the drive from the power driven belt 9| istransmitted to'a driving gear housing |00 through the drive gear 92which is meshed with the teeth of the gear housing |00. Drive istransmitted from the gear housing. |00 through a plurality of springpressed pawls I I I each engaging a tooth on a pawldriven ratchet |I2,whichdrives the shaft II3, to which" is keyed a clutch throwout collar||4, which is urged by the clutch spring I|5 into driving engagementwith the sewing machine drivegear- I I6.. The gear I6 is freely mountedon shaft y| I5 and is driven by a drive gear I 6a which is'drivendirectly from the power driven belt 9|. vUpon declutching, the gear IISis disengaged and -is free to rotate on the shaft H3. Underthiscondition, the shaft I| 3 is driven directly by the pawl drivenratchet |I2 and the gear 92. When the clutch is engaged, the drive isthrough'the gears I|6a and ||6 and the spring pressed pawls I aredisengaged by the overrunning of the pawl driven ratchet |I2 now drivenby the shaft I I3 due to the rotation of the shaft by the gear ||6 at agreater speedfthan the speed of rotation of the gear housing |00. Due tothe arrangementv to the drive shaft ||8, which is connected there-lwith.

The varying of the amount of feeding of the fabric strips issynchronized with the operating cycles of the sewing head so thatfabricgis fed the smaller predetermined amount at regular in.-`

The snap lock switch tervalsi:I This Lis:` accomplished by 'the'control" mechanism. 'shown best inFigs; 1, 2, 'If and'. As

drive chain. 4u and revolves the shaft .|21 shown which is connected bythe Pitman shaft |23'to: the pawl carrying segment |24 which...drives.a.

here. shown, a sprocket gear '|20 isA driven byy a l ratchet. gear |25by action .of a spring pressed.

pawl: |E| carried .by the'said pawl carrier |26'.V This construction issuchathatY upon each revolution of shaft |2..|jthe pawl carryingsegmentA |26 is moved a predetermined amount totransmtthe desired amountoflrotation to .the ratchet gear |25. Thev ratchet gear| keyed. toashaft |25 to which: is also .secureda forked actuating arm' |21having-spaced operating arms .|28 andv [29y the: ends of. which contactand move the extending stop |30. whichjis carried .on a collar #3L whichis. secured'to a shaft |32..v An arm: |33, whichispsecured to thecollar` |3I,l connected with. oneendi of. a tension. springV |34 forreturn` ing' the shaft I 32` toY its: normal position after Y movementthereof caused by the: forked actuating arm |21.

The shaftL |132 carries a clutch operating'mem'- ber" |35 which controlsoperation ofi the clutch.

|36z to connectthe` shaft 43 and the sprocket 44 `for-one-halfrevolution. and thento disconnect arm. |29 or |28 contactrthestop |730.After the`VA material. for the narrow pocket is: fed, Vthe arm |28 actsyon th'e clutch. and the fly-wheel |01 is rotatedone-half' revolution. toreturn the: slide 39 -to'- 'itsr initial position. A clutch operatingspring |31 is compressedv when the clutch is dis-v engaged as shown in-Fig.. 7, and exerts a pressure when the clutch is engagedv to push theclutch operating dog |38 into operative connection with. clutch' teeth|39 on the hubA of thevsprocket 44', thus effecting. a drive ofthe shaft43 from the sprocket; 44 whenever the clutch. is operated. Aanadjustable brake |-4gis provided to exert a fric-V tional braking effectonthe shaft 43 to'V prevent rotation thereof. upon disengagement'r of..ther clutch|36t p Y rIihe sewed fabric is taken up on the take-up' reel'which iscarried on the; take-up reel shaft |24 which isgpower driventhrough a gear 150,. which meshes with a drive gear |5.|v carried by'the power driven shaft 4l.

yThe operationof the machine asa whole is as follows: I l

The folded fabric material of. a desired width is drawn across thesewing tableA 2li andi power is applied tothe operatingmechanismthrougli the shaft 41. This causes the transverse: sewing ofthe strips by the sewing' heads 2li as previously' cyclel isrepeated-.Due gto .the provision"` of. -the fabric` feeding device hereinclisclcised,V the niachine will' provide forithe stitching ofapredetermined number vof: pockets 1|15| of uniformfwidth,

each series of such pockets being separated by a desired butV whichi inthe yinterest of! simplicityV of: disclosure hereinare not shown; Amongsuch controls may be an Velectrical stopv control such as that describedinthe said Hathaway Patent No; 2,318,686 for. stoppingtne machine in theevent that the bobbin thread becomes-exlidusted or in the event thateither the sewing thread or the-bobbinthreadbreaksor runs out'. Also,there lmay be provided if desired a marking device 'suchas thatdescribed ,inVV said Hathaway patent( Itwill be observed, therefore,that we haveprovided a novel and improved machine for econom-r ieallyand rapidly formingpockets in folded ina-y terial in which the foldedmaterial is passed in av substantially straight linethrough the machineandisiindexed' forward asreq-uired while the sew*- ing heads are ateach` extreme posi-tion` of their transverse movement".y The sewingheads vare In addition, the fabric feeding mechanism hereini disclosedprovides for the vautomatic feeding of the fabric forward apredetermined amount to provide a Vseries olf-'pockets of `uniform widthand the provision of a narrower pocketl between each'succ'e'ssive'series of such pockets' of uniform width.

Y Also, eiective controls are provided to insure the 1. In av'machineadapted't'o sew pockets in.'

folded'material, a primary drive shaft, a Working. surface; asewing'headassociated with the working surface and movabl'eirelative thereto,meansr driven bythe primary drive shaft to move the.

sewing head back and forthl across, the working surface, and a fabricfeeding mechanism for intermittently feedingfolded materialV acrosssaid' Working surfacein a cycle ofpro-gressiveV feeding..

movements, and means for controlling said feed'-` Ving mechanismitoestablisl'i` a feeding cycle con` sisting of a predetermined number ofequal movements of' the fabric separated by a singlemovementthereof oflesser extent than said equal' movements.

2. In a machine to sew'a series of substantially equally spacedv pocketsseparated by a narrower pocket inv folded fabric. material, a workingsurface disposed to receivethe folded fabric, a sew.- i'ng head adaptedto` move relative tothe said working surface and across the foldedfabric, a driving shaft, speedv reducing means driven by the drivingshaft to move the sewing head" back and forth across the foldedv fabric,means including a segmental ratchetA gear feeding means tointermittently move the folded fabric relative tothe sewing head whenthe sewing'hea'd. passes .beyondl the folded fabric in its travel, andmeans, operatively connected with said segmental ratch'et gear forvarying the amount of feeding movement.

` thereof at predeterminedtimes in its operating.

to move back and forth across the folded material, a driven shaft, meansoperated by the driven shaft to move the sewing head back and forthacross the folded material and to operate the sewing head to formpockets in said strip, and intermittent drive means operably connectedto the driven shaft to index the folded material across the workingsurface a predetermined amount each time the sewing head completes itstravel across the working surface, and means for varying the amount ofmaterial indexed across th'e said surface at preselected intervals inthe operating cycle.

4. In a machine adapted to seW pockets in folded material, a Workingsurface adapted to receive the folded material, a sewing head adapted tomove back and forth across the folded material, a drive shaft, speedreducing means operated by the drive shaft to move the sewing head backand forth across the folded material to sew pockets therein, and meansoperated by the drive shaft to intermittently index the folded materialforwardly when the sewing head passes beyond the folded material at eachend of its cycle of operatially equal sized pockets in a, continuousstrip of folded fabric and comprising a sewing table,

a Vsewing head, means for driving said sewing head and means for movingit transversely of said table, fabric feeding means includingintermittently driven fabric feeding members adapted to index the foldedfabric strip over said table in a series of equal intermittentmovements, one such movement occurring immediately following thecrossing of the fabric strip by the sewing head, and means connectedwith said fabric feeding member for varying the amount of movement ofsaid fabric at a predetermined time in each' cycle after a predeterminednumber of said equal intermittent movements.

6. A machine as claimed in claim 5 and further characterized in that thefabric feeding means comprises a fabric feeding roll, an operatingmember operatively connected with said roll and adapted to rotate saidroll a predetermined amount during each operating cycle, and a controlunit for varying the action of said operating member at a predeterminedpoint in each cycle of operation.

7. A machine as claimed in claim 5 and further characterized in thatth'e fabric feeding means comprises a fabric feeding roll, an operatingmember operatively connected with said roll and adapted to rotate saidroll a predetermined amount during each operating cycle, and a controlunit for varying the action of said operating member at a predeterminedpoint in each cycle of operation, and a synchronizing control unitadapted to permit operation of said fabric feeding means only by thecompletion of each transverse movement of said sewing head.

MICHAEL J. LENARTOWICZ. ANTHONY LENARTOWICZ.

